ScanLab interface improves laser-sintering process in 3-D printers

Open Interface Extension This data-acquisition interface from ScanLab uses information gathered by sensors and the company’s scan heads to help guide the laser-sintering process in 3-D printers. The system is composed of both hardware and software and comes in a variety of configurations: One version has a surface-temperature pyrometer in the scan head control; another uses an optical coherence tomography sensor to measure the surface topography of a powder bed or workpiece. The interface’s hardware is shown in the center of a 2-D scanning system from ScanLab and the company’s control board.

What’s new? The system, which ScanLab presented at Formnext in the fall.

Benefits The ability to integrate ScanLab scan heads with sensors from other companies. The Open Interface Extension allows users to leverage data from sensors that can monitor a wide variety of conditions, such as density, topography and temperature.

ScanLab America Inc., St. Charles, Ill., 630-797-2044, www.scanlab.de